Fitness Unit

WE ARE SO EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE HAVE A BRAND NEW, STATE OF THE ART FITNESS CENTER!!!!!! WE HAVE TOP OF THE LINE EQUIPMENT FROM ROGUE. WE WILL NOW BE INCORPORATING THE FITNESS ROOM INTO OUR CURRICULUM AND WILL ROTATE CLASSES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.

Usually our fitness unit spans across the entire month of March. This is a time when the students are really feeling the effects of a long winter and are anxious to get outside and move. Students are also busy with MCAS testing. We truly believe this is a great time to teach fitness and really focus on improving cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance and flexibility. Now that we have a brand new fitness center, we will be utilizing it throughout the entire school year and not just the month of March. At the end of the fitness unit, we post test the students on the mile run.

Our students are introduced to a variety of different ways to get fit. We like to stress the fact that you do not need to use equipment, have a gym membership, take up a lot of space or time in order to get fit. We teach our students exercises using their own body weight and focusing on correct form. It is important for our students to understand that they can take the work outs and exercises that we teach them in class and incorporate them into their own lifestyle.

We do interval training, cardio based workouts, flexibility/mobility and fitness stations incorporating muscular strength/endurance. All of which help to improve the 5 health related components of fitness, which the students are tested on in the state mandated fitness gram (cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility and body composition).

During the fitness unit, we explain to our students that their heart is the most important muscle in the body. We explain that just like any other muscle you have to exercise it to make it stronger. This means pushing it a little past your comfort zone. We teach our students about resting hear rate (60-100 BPM) and how to take their pulse using their carotid and radial artery. Once they can take their pulse and find their resting heart rate, we explain that their heart needs to beat 140-160 BPM for 20 consecutive minutes in order to get stronger. This is their target heart rate zone and students should be exercising in this zone 3-4 times per week. During our fitness workouts, we frequently stop and have the kids take their pulse to make sure that they are in their target heart rate zone. If they are below the students know they need to work a little harder and if they are above they know they need to ease up a bit. This is a good indicator for the students to listen to their body and not over or under work themselves.

Once we have received out Heart Rate watches, we will use these during our fitness unit.